Procrastinating, Kingdom Saving, and all other forms of Geekdom

L4D FF Fall of Troy Part 12

Hey everyone. This is the final chapter in Fall of Troy. I hope you have enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have any thoughts, or questions, feel free to post them in the comments. If you don’t feel comfortable commenting or asking questions publically, feel free to email me at revisedgewater@hotmail.com

PRESENT DAY, WALTON, KY

The back side of Trojan’s body blocked Irish’s view of the tank. As suddenly as Trojan filled his vision, he disappeared just as quickly. Right after Trojan’s shotgun went off; the tank backhanded him out of the air. It teetered for just a second, and then the tank fell onto its back, a hole where its face used to be. With the threat ended, for the moment, Irish began to search for Trojan.

Bulldog met up with him and they both looked for their leader. When they finally found him, they were amazed at how far the tank had thrown him. They were also amazed at how much damage the tank was able to do with one strike. Both of his legs, and one of his arms, were sticking out at impossible angles. Blood was running out of his mouth, nose, and ears. Irish knelt down to pray over him, but immediately jumped back up when Trojan’s voice startled him.

“Are you two ok,” he asked.

They looked at each other in disbelief, knowing that his injuries should’ve killed him by now. “Forget about us,” Bulldog told him. “What about you?”

“I’m already gone, and you know it, girl.”

“Maybe we could,” Irish began, before Trojan cut him off.

“No. I’m gone. I can see that both of you are starting to tear up. Don’t. It’s my time. I want you to look after the others. They’ll need….”

Trojan never finished his sentence as the remaining life left him. Irish and Bulldog, both with tears running down their faces, paid their last respects to their leader quickly, and then gathered their weapons and ammo. They met up with Panther, who was still crying over the body of her sister, and Rocket.

“Is she…”

Rocket shook his head. “Is it just you two,” he asked after a short pause.

“He’s at the bottom of the hill,” Rocket informed them. “His body is facing the road. His face isn’t.”

“We’ve got to make sure they don’t come back,” Bulldog sighed.

Rocket nodded. He walked up behind his wife and put his hand on her shoulder. Still crying, she pulled out her pistol and shot her sister’s corpse in the head quickly, so she didn’t have time to lose her nerve. Irish walked to the bottom of the hill and did the same to Spartan. The four of them walked over to Wildcat and watched as Bulldog did her duty. Finally, it came time to shoot Trojan.

Irish and Bulldog refused to watch. Rocket knelt down beside the body and whispered something into his ear. Quietly, he stood back up and pulled the trigger. The two men and two women walked towards the building that the tank had busted out of. They had gone through so much, and lost half of their people, to get here. Now, they needed to find out what was in there. As they walked, Panther looked at her husband, “What did you say to Trojan?”

“I told him that he had done enough to look his wife in the eyes when he gets to the other side.”

Not knowing what he was talking about, Panther let it drop. As they were about to enter the building, a noise to the side caught their attention. All four turned, pointing their guns at the noise. A man in old military fatigues stood before them. They could tell from his complexion that he was not infected. The surprise on his face also made that clear.

“Holy shit,” the man exclaimed. “They told me I was crazy, but I knew I heard gunshots.”

“You’re not alone,” Bulldog questioned. “Where are the others?”

“Not out here. There’s twenty more people in the next building up. It’s about a quarter of a mile from here.”

“Why are you all there? Isn’t this where all the guns and ammo are supposed to be?”

“That’s what we thought, too, but when we got here all we found is them infected.”

Irish broke in with a question. “If there’s twenty of you over there, why didn’t you come over here and take care of the zombies?”

“Would you waste ammo and risk people’s lives if you didn’t have to? They were in these buildings and we were in ours. As long as they didn’t try to get into ours, we weren’t going to mess with them.”

The four companions looked at each other. Finally, Bulldog told the man, “Take us to them.”

He led them to the next building, a fairly large warehouse. When they got there, the people greeted them enthusiastically. Minutes after they arrived, the story of how eight of them had cleared out the armory began to spread. While their hosts were telling their tale, the four of them were loading up on ammo. This confused the others.

“We’re safe inside our building,” one of them said to Rocket. “Why do you need ammo now?”

“You should always be ready,” Rocket answered, looking at the person like they were crazy. “You never know when the zombies will try to break in here.”

Ten minutes after he said that, everyone else in the building had their weapons and ammo ready. What remained of Trojan’s group spent most of that time looking at each other in disbelief. How had these people, who had no idea what they were doing, survived while people like Trojan and Wildcat were killed?

The man who had found them walked over and informed the group that his people wanted to make them their leaders. Before any of them could respond, Bulldog told him they were honored by the gesture, but they’d have to discuss it privately first. She led the group outside of the building. Even though she hadn’t known Panther and Rocket very long, she could tell that they were thinking the exact same thing that her and Irish were.

Still, she had to be sure. She looked at each of them in turn. All three shook their heads when her gaze got to them. With no words, they began walking away from the building. While the zombies hadn’t touched that building so far, that would eventually change. When it did, those people, because they were clueless, would end up getting them killed. They were better off on their own.

They walked back to the highway. When they got there, they began to follow it south. Bulldog didn’t have a particular destination in mind. All she knew was that she had to get away from this place. Running headfirst into the unknown was risky, but, looking at her group, she liked her chances.